Tropicana Finds E-Business Solution in Sterling Commerce's GENTRAN

Sterling Commerce Inc. (Dublin, OH) has implemented an E-business system based on its GENTRAN family of business process integration software at Tropicana UK, an operation of juice market leader Tropicana Products Inc. The E-business process integration solution streamlines communications with the company's customers and logistics service provider (LSP), enabling Tropicana to minimize the delivery time of its products to retail outlets. The system also provides Tropicana scalability to adapt to evolving business needs.

Tropicana UK is using GENTRAN as an E-business process integration solution between its customers and its LSP in the U.K., and a newly-installed Oracle Consumer Package Goods ERP system (Oracle Financials & Order-To-Cash). Additionally, Sterling provided Tropicana UK with extensive consulting to analyze the situation and define an integrated solution with the Oracle CPG ERP system that was adapted specifically for the retail market.

Tropicana Products Inc., a division of PepsiCo Inc., is a leading producer and marketer of branded fruit juices. The company markets its products worldwide under a number of brand names, including Tropicana Pure Premium, Dole, Looza, Tropicana Season's Best, Fruvita and Tropicana Twister. The Dole brand name is licensed from Dole Food Company, Inc.

"Tropicana Europe's IT Group chose Sterling Commerce GENTRAN because of its extensive capabilities, especially for communicating with other systems and third parties," said Johan Peeters, MIS project manager Tropicana Europe. "With Sterling Commerce we were able to initiate the system with EDI messaging for customers and logistics service provider fully integrated with the Order-To-Cash solution (IMI's System Ess) and meet the tight project schedule. We were also impressed with Sterling Commerce's service offering to support a very fast implementation and its very professional approach."

Dave Robinson, Sterling Commerce vice president of European Operations, GENTRAN Product Group, said, "By extending ERP applications for E-business, organizations can facilitate the real-time exchange of business information with suppliers, customers and other third parties. The result is the elimination of manual processes, faster cycle times, reduced inventory and improved customer service."

GENTRAN provides software and services to integrate disparate business processes for the leading multinational corporations and their E-business communities. It allows the sharing of business information among diverse business systems so organizations can streamline operations, reduce costs and improve responsiveness to customer demands.

GENTRAN is supported by a wide range of proven consulting, implementation, outsourcing and E-Community services to maximize software investment and minimize risk.

For more information: Sterling Commerce Inc., 4600 Lakehurst Court, Dublin, Ohio 43016-2000, Tel: 614-793-7000, Fax: 614-793-4040.

Edited by Bill Noone